


To Have an Imagination

by PrettyShinyToothFairy



Category: Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery, Valdemar Series - Mercedes Lackey
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Bechdel Test Pass, Crack, Crossover, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, Gen, Gift Fic, Inspired by Novel, Misses Clause Challenge, Pastiche
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-19
Updated: 2013-10-19
Packaged: 2017-12-29 20:38:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1009824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrettyShinyToothFairy/pseuds/PrettyShinyToothFairy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anne Shirley's life takes a rather different turn from canon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Have an Imagination

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Toft](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toft/gifts).



> Here's the Anne of Green Gables/Arrows of the Queen crossover-fusion you requested! I couldn't manage to work in the Anne/Diana friendship or romance subplot for you, but I hope this satisfies anyway. :-)

As the five-thirty train pulled away from Bright River station, Anne Shirley sat very still on the station platform, clutching on her lap the carpetbag which contained all her worldly goods.

Anne felt that her heart might burst with joy. Someone _wanted_ her. Someone, two someones named Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, had requested an eleven-year-old girl from the orphan asylum in Nova Scotia. Soon that person would arrive, and take Anne away from the railway station, and then she would have a _real home_. 

But... but suppose Mr Matthew Cuthbert never arrived? The train had only just left, but Anne had rather expected someone would meet her immediately. Well, perhaps Mr Cuthbert had started late, or perhaps his horse had gone lame. No, that was far too commonplace and unromantic; perhaps he had met with a mysterious and beautiful stranger on the way who had begged him to help her _immediately_ in a case of life or death. He couldn't very well turn down such a plea, could he? Anne decided he could not, and settled herself to the arduous task of imagining out all the details of the matter.

A brisk clip-clop and the jingle of bells broke through Anne's reverie. Looking up, she saw a sight so astonishing that even her sturdy imagination was momentarily staggered.

There before Anne, bowing its neck in greeting, stood a surpassingly beautiful white horse. Anne had seen horses before, but never such a horse as this; it seemed to her ethereal, timeless, like a marble horse sprung newly-carved from the façade of the Parthenon, and it was richly caparisoned in silver and sky-blue. In its grace and majesty it seemed as if it should have wings.

Anne looked into the horse's eyes--sapphire-blue like the eyes of no horse on Earth--and almost dropped her carpetbag. The horse did not speak, but Anne instinctively felt that she understood what it, what _he_ , was telling her.

_At last, I have found you! I Choose you, child, out of all the multitudes of earth. Join me; I will take you where there is neither loneliness nor scorn, where you will have a real home indeed. Ride on my back, child, and you shall be a Herald of my Queen._

Feeling too overwhelmed and joy-stunned for words, Anne stood up and walked to the side of the horse. She had never ridden before, though she had imagined it often enough, and it took her several tries to get both herself and her carpetbag up onto the horse's back. Her tight wincey skirt forced her to sit awkwardly sidesaddle, clutching the carpetbag in one hand and the horse's belled bridle in the other.

At the horse's first prance, Anne knew she would not fall off. Her new friend would not allow it. Anne relaxed fractionally, and the horse began to gallop.

The world blurred around them.

*************************

When they alighted--for Anne felt as if she had truly been flying--they stood on the outskirts of a large, bustling city. The horse cantered smoothly down the streets and through a gate in the city wall, obviously certain of his goal, while Anne stared around her in amazement.

She was certainly no longer in Bright River, nor in any other part of Canada she had ever seen or heard tell of. Was she in Fairyland? She had never imagined Fairyland could be so noisy or so full of mundane smells. And yet, all the people in the bustling marketplace wore dramatically bright-colored clothes in strange styles, far more fitted to inhabitants of Fairyland than of Prince Edward Island. 

Before Anne could decide what part of Fairyland this might be, the horse drew up before another gated wall. A female guard dressed in a splendid uniform greeted her kindly.

"Come down now, youngling," the guard told Anne. "I'll take you where you need to go. May I take your bag for you?"

"Yes, thank you," Anne said, handing the carpetbag down gratefully. "The handle pulls out unless you hold it in exactly the right way. I'd better take it again once I'm down, since I know the knack of it."

"It's no trouble, childing," the guard assured her, and tucked the carpetbag carefully under one arm before offering her other hand to Anne and helping her down from the horse. "Come along now."

Another guard led the horse away, and Anne walked with her guard through the gate into a large green park dotted with scattered... castles? The large gray-stone buildings lacked towers and crenellations, but they looked as imposing as any fairy-tale castle Anne had ever imagined, and the building they entered was filled with grand furnishings in every room. Clearly it must be a castle. 

As she followed the guard through winding halls, Anne wondered why she had been brought to Fairyland, or wherever this mysterious place was. Being Anne, she immediately put the question into words. "Ma'am," she asked politely, "can you tell me why that horse brought me here?"

The guard smiled at her. "You'll get answers to all your questions soon enough. That's where I'm taking you now."

Satisfied, Anne nodded. "Thank you," she said politely, and continued following the guard. While they walked, she stole a surreptitious glance at her own braided hair. It was as red as ever. _I suppose I'm not a long-lost fairy princess returning to my ancestral home, then,_ she thought regretfully. _You couldn't imagine a fairy princess with red hair and freckles, could you? It would be ludicrous. A fairy princess couldn't be less than **perfectly beautiful.**_

Eventually they arrived in a smallish parlor. "Someone will be with you in just a few moments," the guard assured Anne. "You'll be staying with us tonight; I'll put your bag in your room, shall I?" At Anne's nervous "Yes, thank you," the guard faded away and closed the door gently behind her.

Feeling rather like she was about to visit the dentist, Anne sat down carefully in one of the parlor chairs and folded her hands in her lap to await her destiny.


End file.
